HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Law enforcement around the country claim crime rates go up with the temperature in the summer. With that in mind, Huntsville Emergency Medical Services, or HEMSI, responds to many of those calls.
WHNT News 19 spoke with a HEMSI field supervisor about what they want you to keep in mind.
“We need to focus on taking care of that patient,” said Field Supervisor, Kenneth Burke.
When HEMSI responds to a call, it’s the patient who is top of mind.
“When the first responders arrive, the best thing to do is for the good Samaritans to just back up, let us do our work, inform us of what’s going on, what they found or what they see,” said Burke.
Many times when HEMSI responds to a call in a high stress environment, people will want to stop and look.
“That’s not the time to be asking us questions about what happened, who the patient is…like I said, that’s the time to back up and let us get to work,” said Burke.
There can be multiple agencies who respond to emergency situations, mixed with bystanders and the patient or patients who need help.
“It can be a matter of life and death and if we can’t get to the patient and evaluate that patient in a timely manner..because sometimes its a matter of seconds or minutes whether somebody survives or not,” said Burke.
Burke says serving the 350,000 plus residents in Madison County is always their number one priority.